Because Every Girl Loves to Shop
by Swimming the Same Deep Waters
Summary: Set after LS, Rose and Dimitri are out as a couple and are starting their lives together. A fluffy one-shot about their first place together.
"It's not that I'm disinterested, Roza," I murmur. "I'm just not into this like you are."

She nodded, trying to hide her disappointment.

'No good deed goes unpunished' I thought to myself, preparing myself to be dragged around furniture and homewares stores for the next few hours.

When we'd finally come out as a couple, it had caused a stir. The idea of two Dhampir openly dating was scandalous, to some. But over time most people had calmed down. Lissa, as Queen, had a way of bringing even the most intransigent royals around to her way of thinking. And while some Dhampir still weren't thrilled with the idea of two of their own dating, eventually Lissa had put a stop to the snide comments from that quarter via a blistering speech about tolerance and acceptance delivered to the entire Dhampir contingent at court.

That hadn't helped with some of the more practical aspects of us being together, though.

Initially, we'd each kept our own rooms in the Dhampir dormitories, alternating staying between one room and the other. But it wasn't ideal. One of us would invariably forget something we needed, and the rooms were tiny – not built to house two people. And, of course, there was the privacy issue.

I can still recall a particularly humiliating discussion with Hans about 'privacy' and 'long shifts' and 'other people needing to be able to sleep.' I'm honestly not sure which of us was more mortified to be having the discussion, he or me!

So we'd moved to stay in a furnished guest apartment in the Moroi private living areas at court, but that really hadn't worked either. We weren't close by the other Guardians, which made keeping hooked into what was going on more difficult. As the Guardians for the Queen and her boyfriend, it was critical we were kept in the loop. Also Rose had been lonely. While our Moroi neighbors had been pleasant, they weren't really our friends. Being naturally more social than I, she'd wanted to live closer to our Guardian mates.

It was actually Lissa who came to our rescue again. When the roof on one of the oldest Guardian dorm blocks had partially collapsed, flooding the entire top floor, she'd asked for a cost comparison between repair and ongoing maintenance versus a complete rebuild. There was not much in it, so a new building was commissioned. Built with more modern living in mind, the block consisted of two, four and six bedroom apartments, each with their own bathrooms, living room, kitchen, and laundry. There was also a gym, cafeteria and office spaces within the building. It wasn't luxury living, by any means, but still light and day compared to the spartan living arrangements of the older dormitory blocks.

There'd been a huge demand for the new accommodations. Almost every Guardian at court had put in a housing transfer application. In the end, Hans had been given the unenviable task of reading through the numerous requests and allocating the limited number of units. Not everyone was pleased with the selections, but I thought he'd made a pretty good fist of it. But maybe that's because he'd allocated Roza and I a two-bedroom unit of our very own on the top floor!

Hence today's mission.

Hearing about our new place, Abe had got in touch offering to pay for the furniture and other living things we would be needing. While I would have been happy with just a bed and a chair to sit and read, Rose was beyond thrilled. For the last week, every spare moment had been spent online, poring over furniture websites and talking design with Lissa. After a lot of consideration, she'd decided there were two or three stores she liked, all of which could be found at a mall a couple of hours away. She'd been desperate to bring Lissa with her for the shopping mission, but the security detail involved was prohibitive. So that found Rose and me on a Saturday morning human time, walking through the mall hand-in-hand.

"Don't you have any thoughts, though?" Rose asked, bringing me out of my reverie.

"Honestly, I'm happy when you're happy," I assured her, plastering a smile that I hoped could be interpreted as enthusiastic onto my face as we came to the store she liked best _'West Elm.'_

Walking straight to the service desk, Rose explained we had an appointment with their 'Design Consultant.'

A design consultant? What the hell was that? I thought we were going to pick a sofa and some bed linen and be on our way? Yanking the smile firmly back onto my face, I settled in for the long haul. All this stuff held zero interest for me, but I knew Rose was super excited about it, and so I was determined to make it a special day for her sake.

"Rose? Dimitri?" gushed a short, plump man, walking over to us enthusiastically. "I'm Michael – the Design Consultant here at West Elm!" he continued, gesturing about him with his hand. "Now Rose, your father has been in touch. He wanted me to let you know you have carte blanche today." Seeing Rose's blank look, he quickly continued, "You can buy whatever you want, and he'll pick up the tab. And he asked me to tell you not to hold back – he wants to make sure you and Dimitri start your lives together with every comfort."

Looking at Rose, I could see her tearing up. Her relationship with her father was relatively new, but in a short time, he'd come a long way with her. I knew the fact he wanted to spoil her meant more than the actual money. That, and him helping us set up to live together properly signaled his tacit approval of our relationship.

"So – shall we start with a coffee and you can tell me about the look you'd like to achieve?" Michael suggested, guiding us to a table at the side of the store and waving his hand in the air imperiously. Within seconds, a young man appeared to take our coffee order.

Sitting at the table nursing a coffee, I listened to Rose talk excitedly about mid-century design. I wasn't even sure what that was, but Michael seemed to know all about it. Terms like stemware and flatware were mentioned, but it might as well have been a foreign language as far as I was concerned! This was going to be a long day.

"Dimitri – do you have any design must haves?" Michael asked.

"A Californian King bed with no bed end" I immediately piped up. In the many hours I'd spent listening as Rose enthused about different design styles, the only thing I'd really focussed on was our bed. I couldn't wait to fall asleep with her in my arms in our own place. And I was also excited about the prospect of a bed I could fully stretch out in without my feet hitting the bed end! "Oh – and somewhere to hang my coat," I added.

Jotting these down onto a notepad, Michael stood up and started walking towards the bedding area.

"Well, let's start by picking a mattress, shall we?"

In the end, the day had been quite good. Quickly divining Rose's enthusiasm, and my lack of it, Michael had suggested I read my book while he helped Rose make her selections. Selling it to Rose as a 'chance to surprise her man once it was all delivered' he'd managed to make the day super exciting for her.

Driving back to court, Rose excitedly chattered the whole way about how happy she was with all the things she'd picked, and how she couldn't wait to surprise me. Seeing her happiness, it was impossible not to share it. "I'm sure I'm going to love everything, Roza," I said thickly, kissing her temple as she leaned against me. "I can't wait to start our lives together in our own apartment."

Eight weeks later, the big day was here. Lissa and Rose had spent the last two days at our unit unpacking and setting everything up. I'd been banned from going anywhere near the place until it was 'ready.' In fact, the closest I got to knowing anything about it was seeing Eddie and a few of our Guardian friends helping move what seemed to be an inordinately large number of wrapped furniture items out of the moving truck.

Having finished my shift, walking across to the new block, I spotted Lissa with her alternate Guardians walking her back to her quarters.

"Dimitri" she called out, walking over once she saw me. "Congratulations! I've just come from your place, and it looks amazing. I hope you and Rose will be really happy there," she smiled sweetly.

My relationship with Lissa was a strange one. She was my Queen, former charge, girlfriend to my current charge, the one who restored me from being undead but also my girlfriend's best friend. We were still working out how we 'fit' with one another. But I genuinely liked her, so that helped a lot.

"Thanks. Is she very excited?" I asked.

 _"Very!_ She can't wait for you to see what she's done with the place. Just admire everything at least three times, and you should be ok," she advised kindly.

Excited myself, now, I took the stairs up to the top floor two at a time. Stopping in front of our door, I knocked.

The door opened and what a sight! Rose in a long black skirt and matching top. Seeing her wearing something other than her Guardian clothes never ceased to remind me just how beautiful she is.

"Welcome home, Comrade," she said shyly, grabbing my hand and pulling me into our unit.

Looking around, I was nothing short of stunned. The place looked amazing! No doubt sparse by ornate Moroi standards, everything here had a purpose and just worked together. But it was also beautiful and somehow so 'us.' I honestly didn't know what to look at first. Unnerved by my silence, Rose immediately became concerned. "Do you like it?" she asked nervously.

Remembering Lissa's advice, I quickly replied, "I love it, Roza! It's perfect!"

For the next hour, Rose took me through the place, pointing out every piece. She really had thought about everything! The artwork in the living room were desert cactus photographs "For you, cowboy," Rose had joked lovingly. The couch was a soft dark leather. I could see us spending hours cuddled together there. She'd even thought of a reading spot for me – a cozy armchair and footstool with a convenient reading light.

Peeking through the double doors to the master bedroom, everything there was equally as gorgeous and well considered. Leading me into our room, Rose was outlining the linen selections when I could take it no longer. Pulling her to me, I kissed her passionately.

"Roza. Everything is wonderful," I murmured, my lips against hers. "I know you have more to show me, but right now I want to take you to our bed and show you my appreciation."

Lifting her onto our bed and climbing beside her, she smiled up at me and giggled.

"I could really get used to this, you know!"

"I hope so, Roza, I hope so," I replied, lowering my lips to hers and losing myself in her embrace.


End file.
